How I Lost 15 Pounds In Three Months With One Simple Change

I was over diets. I'd tried Nutri System, Weight Watchers several times, the South Beach Diet, and so many others. They never seemed to do the trick, and in the end, I'd end up gaining the weight back that I'd worked so hard to lose ... and then some. I'm 54-years-old, and I felt like I'd seen and tried it all — but then I saw the F-Factor diet on Instagram. My cousin kept posting about it and was thrilled with the results, so I decided to look into it.

Basically, the F-Factor is a diet created by Tanya Zuckerbrot — and if you have the time, you should listen to her podcast to get the full gist — who believes that a high-fiber diet where you can actually drink alcohol and dine out can make you lose weight permanently. And she believes that something called GG Crackers is the key.

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GG Crackers [ed note: they're officially called GG Scandinavian Fiber Crispbread] have been around in Norway since 1935, and they come in plastic packages with eight thin squares that almost look like a bird seed sheet. You can literally put anything on them. They're low in calories and carbs and packed with fiber, which is essentially the F-Factor diet.

People call them "appetite control crackers." I ordered a box on Amazon.

For the first two months, I'd eat four to eight crackers a day with different toppings. I'd have four for breakfast topped with one egg and one egg white along with avocado or add a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese. It was so filling compared to eating an egg with multigrain bread; I seriously couldn't believe it.

If I had more GG crackers later in the day, I'd make mini pizzas for a snack, which would be a low-carb tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, basil, and seasoning.

Erica Smith

But, again, when you add in the 3 liters of water a day that you're supposed to be drinking on the F-Factor diet and the 8 crackers, it's nearly impossible to eat your dinner. By the time dinner came around, I was so stuffed that I'd give my husband half of my dinner.

Listen, GG crackers were no joke. They keep you full for hours, and they don't taste like cardboard — trust me, I used to eat rice cakes for a loooong time. The first couple of days were a bit of an adjustment because I wasn't getting that much fiber in before. I noticed I felt bloated and my stomach was upset in the beginning, probably the first two days, but once I started increasing my water intake, I felt so much better.

I was so full the entire time, that I didn't even realize I was only eating 800 calories according to MyFitnessPal. I'd eat at max 1,200 calories a day, and that was genuinely a challenge. Oh yeah, I'd also have a glass of wine every. single. night.

But I didn't just eat eggs and cheese and crackers for two months. I started following people on Instagram who were also using GG crackers and noticed you could treat the crackers like toast — so avocado toast came to mind.

And guess what? You can also crush up the crackers and use them as breadcrumbs for meatballs, mac & cheese, breading, you name it. I realized I could add the crackers to literally anything: pancakes, waffles, cookies. It was a game changer.

The hardest part for me was avoiding sweets. As a baker, it's a huge part of my life to bake (and try) what I make. I had to pay attention to carbs versus fiber, and doing the net-carbs math. I stick to 100 to 150 net-carbs a day, but the biggest thing is to make sure I'm getting a minimum of 35 carbs of fiber and 3 liters of water.

Erica Smith

This has been the longest I've stuck to any plan. When you get to 50-something-years-old, and something works, it's a huge change. My blood pressure dropped from high blood pressure stage 1 to normal, which is two levels down. My doctor was floored when I came in for my check-up

I feel like I don't have to keep track of much for this. I'm just having to eat healthy most of the time.

Even though the pumpkin seed and sunflower seed crackers have twice the amount of calories as the plain crackers, they were totally worth it and tasted good. It was just too hard to get the plain ones down.

My favorite of all of the GG cracker options is definitely sunflower. It has the best texture and taste. The original GG cracker (the plain ones) and the oat ones that have even lower calories are not worth the lower calories. The lower calorie crackers taste like wood pulp once you chew them and are straight up grain — so stay away from those unless you're super serious.

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